"He that hath a trade hath an estate; and he that hath a calling hath a place of profit and honor" - Benjamin Franklin

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Tool Stand

I got the tool stand done or maybe not. The plate that the tubing bender is bolted to also has mounting holes for my sheet metal shear but I might make another plate on the other end to fasten it to. I don't see me using the tubing bender too often but the Hossfeld style bender in the top photo will get a lot of use, I'm sure, and the sheet metal shear will as well. It would be nice to have those use-able without having to unbolt one thing and bolt on another. However, if I'm going to try and shear a large piece, I'll have to unbolt the bender anyway. It won't take much to make up another mounting plate, so I'll probably go ahead with that anyway.

Finished the Dzus brackets for the fender skirt on the sidecar. I'll get those bolted on in the next few days and then I'll be able to finish the fender operation up. I need to bolt them rather than weld them so I can slip the floor sheet in. I ordered in some of the proper Dzus fasteners. I checked at Auto Zone and when I asked about Dzus or 1/4 turn fasteners I got the look that I normally get when I go into those places. They had no idea what the hell I was talking about. The third person at least knew what I was talking about but said they didn't carry them. Rather than running the gamut of all the stores, I just came home and ordered them from Speedway. I needed a couple of other things anyway.

The sidecar rig is getting pretty close to being finished. I've still got to get some brake calipers on the front of the bike and go through the motor but nothing that time and money can't cure. So it'll happen one of these days.

2 comments:

There's a shop in Lowell on the corner of 2 and 41 that caters to racecar fab. They might have that kind of stuff for future ref. I know they stock that aluminum sheet in different colors that the dirt guys skin the late models in. They may do chassis work...so maybe tubing sales and bending as well.

I bought the tube for the sidecar there and he made the bends as well. I'm sure he would have the Dzus fasteners but rather than driving over there I went ahead and ordered them from Speedway. They're here already and I ordered some other things which bumped up the price to the point I got free shipping also. Thanks, though, for the heads up.